Superstar
by ZacEfronFiction
Summary: HIATUS
1. The Storm

I watched the dark clouds roll by outside my bedroom window and breathed out a small sigh. It looked like a thunderstorm was approaching.

Down below, I could hear my mom shouting out to my dad who was working as usual, in his shed.

"Jeffery, help me with these clothes!" My mom yelled, banging her hand against the closed, wooden door of the shed as she ran past to get to the washing line.

I watched quietly as my mom pulled the clothes off the washing line and put them in the basket, a couple of minutes later, my dad appeared. He was proudly holding out my radio, the one that had broken a few weeks ago. I guess he had managed to fix it after all. Just then, drops of rain began to pour down and my dad looked up at the sky, his eyes flitted towards my bedroom window and he saw me. A grin broke out across his face as he proudly held my radio up over his head.

And that's when it happened.

I didn't even have the chance to blink.

It was such a still, calm day. The morning had started out with sunshine.

The day ended with rain and death.

Not a moment after I saw my dad stand outside his workshop, our shed, with my mom busily scurrying around behind him at the washing line, was I greeted with a blind flashing light and a loud boom of thunder.

I remember shrieking in shock and falling back from my window. I hit my head against the desk near my bedroom and slipped into unconsciousness.

That's my last memory of me and my parents all together at our family house.

After the storm, everything changed.


	2. The Friendships We Make

After it happened, our family house was filled with guests; the post was always full of letters of condolences from far-away relatives and my friends became awkward around me.

Danielle was the only one who stuck around, she was the only one that didn't act weird around me.

I cried a lot during those days. My aunt, who was officially looking after me, would try to get me to leave my room, to move away from the window overlooking our yard.

The shed wasn't there anymore; it was burnt to a crisp. The patch of grass around the shed was blackened by the fire.

My dad loved to play around with technology; he looked to be Mr. Fix-It-All. He had fuel in the shed, when the lightening struck the radio; it penetrated my dad's heart. He died before he hit the ground. For mom, it was the second bolt that hit it that blew the shed up, that sent shards of sharp pieces of wood flying everywhere… it was that which took her life.

Danielle had seen me sitting there the day after the funeral. I remember feeling her softness as she hugged me tightly and wiped the tears from my cheeks.

"I can't even begin to understand what you're feeling, Anna…" She whispered softly, choking back tears. "I'm still here for you, if you want to talk… or hang."

I smiled a little at her, she was amazing. I didn't have any brothers or sisters, and at the age of sixteen, I guess I'd always felt lucky to be an only child, it gave me a lot more opportunities and freedom. But there were times when I needed a sister to confide in… or a mother. Danielle was there for me, she was the sister I never had.

We met on the first day on kindergarten and we looked like twins on that day. I still smile at the memory. Both of us had had sleek, long brown hair just below our shoulders and we had worn matching red headbands. I had green eyes where Danielle's eyes were lighter and had a tinge of greyness to them. Her skin was porcelain whereas I tended to have a darker tan. Yet, on that first day, we'd worn matching little dresses with bows and walked hand in hand into school as our proud mothers had stood at the gates waving goodbye to us. It had been fun tricking all the kids at school that we were sisters.

Danielle's mom and my mom were close friends and extremely good neighbours. We did everything with Dani's family, from Christmases to going away on holiday. Dani's family had been just as horror stricken by the loss as any of my real relatives had.

As I hugged Danielle tightly, I thought to myself how much my life did mean. Even though I wished I could have been taken away by that thunderstorm too, even though a part of me hated myself because of my stupid radio and wished I had died instead of them… having close friends like Dani gave me hope.


	3. It's All Downhill From Here

I felt like screaming and hurling things against the wall.

I felt like slamming my bedroom door so hard that it would fly off the hinges.

I felt like… like life wasn't fair.

Of course, I was aware life wasn't fair. Two whole months of mourning, grief and painful memories had taught me that much. One thing was for certain, life was never going to be the same. It was never going to be what I expected it to be.

One day, I would graduate high school without my embarrassing parents sitting in the front row, wiping tears from their eyes. One day, I would leave for college… but I wouldn't really be leaving anything important behind because the important people had already left before me.

Now it seemed I would be leaving the one place where anything of importance in my life still existed.

My aunt made me so angry.

Her name was Janice Littlemare, and she was my mother's sister. She was older then my mom by two years, but she wasn't married, she never had been, and she had no children. Mom had always said she was a 'career girl' and she had no time for men or weddings or children.

Well, it seemed like she would have to make time for me now. She was going to have to take me home with her. She was a college professor in Los Angeles, where her home was. She had taken leave from work but now she had to go back… and as she was my legal guardian, she had to take me with her.

She didn't seem to understand that I couldn't leave my home. I'd had so much taken away from me already, why was she deliberately hurting me more?

We had had a huge argument about it. She had told me we **were** leaving, that we were leaving tomorrow, and that I had NO say in it whatsoever.

I had cried and sworn at her and stormed out. I spent an hour crying on the phone with Dani. She told me I should stay with my aunt, she was my family, and I needed to be with family. She promised that we could still visit each other, but Pennsylvania was pretty far away from Los Angeles. What would we get? A visit once a year? If even that!

I desperately wished I could live with Dani and stay here with her family. I knew them better then I knew Aunt Janice. Aunt Janice who I had never before even talked to so much as on the phone. Aunt Janice who had never even sent me so much as a birthday card before.

Yeah, Aunt Janice cared… she really cared.

So, I was going to a foreign, alien land… Los Angeles. I was being taken away from everything I loved… everything I needed and wanted.

It wasn't fair. Life isn't fair.

It's all down hill from here.

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	4. Tears For Fears

I sat stiffly in the car, the smell of leather stinging my nose. I sniffed. Aunt Janice looked at me from the driver's seat, taking her eyes off the road just for a moment, and then focused back on her driving.

"Please don't be this way, Anna. You're 16 years old; you know the difficult situation we're all in." Aunt Janice shook her head.

I **did** feel like crying, I did want to scream and shout and kick and bite. But I wasn't. So I shot her a glare and turned my head to focus out of the window. It was a clear, sunless day. We were speeding across the highway, leaving everything I ever knew and understood behind.

Aunt Janice wasn't pretty; she didn't even look like my mother's sister. Where my mom had been slightly curvy, with short blond hair and rosy cheeks, Aunt Janice was extremely thin, her hair was dyed a dark black which she pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her cheeks were pale, like she didn't go outside; her eyes were blue like my mom's… like my mom's _used_ to be. Aunt Janice didn't wear floral dresses and sit in the garden with a sunhat and lemonade like mom did. Aunt Janice sat at her laptop, click-clacking away with her bony fingers. She always had a serious look on her face.

I couldn't imagine my aunt hugging me, if she did hug me, she would probably be stiff… like cardboard. I couldn't imagine me ever loving her as much as I loved my parents, or ever sitting at the dinner table with her joking about my day.

It wasn't even like my aunt wanted me around, she probably hated this situation as much as I did. I was interrupting her perfect life – she obviously hadn't had children for a reason. From what mom had told me about her, my aunt lived for her career, and she lived a pretty comfortable life herself. I knew she had a lot of money. She wrote books in her spare time. Boring books. Stuff about the mind and body and science. Boring stuff. Boring. Just like her.

God, how much I hated this.

It was true, I realised. We were zooming across the United States in an old grey SUV, with everything I ever owned packed in the trunk. We WERE going to leave. I was never going to wake up in the bedroom where I'd woken up since I was five. I was never going to walk to school with Danielle again or sit on the bleachers after school and spy on Chad Lebeau as he practised with the team. I was never seeing mom and dad again.

And that's when I cried.

One small, insignificant person travelling a thousand miles… leaving everything behind. It was hurting. It was hurting me bad.

So I couldn't stop crying.

Aunt Janice noticed, and being the emotionally-crippled woman she was, she kept her cold, lifeless eyes on the road and kept driving.

**AUTHORS NOTE: Please REVIEW! Please REVIEW! Haha I can't say it enough guys, but I love reviews! Next chapters coming soon! **


	5. Cliques

I groaned inwardly as I frowned at myself in the mirror, my mouth was covered in toothpaste, my hair was messy and my eyes were bloodshot. It was 7AM and I was getting ready for my first day at East High School. I didn't know anything about the school except they were big competitors when it came to basketball, apparently everyone in town went down to watch their games. I wasn't much of a sports fan, let alone a basketball fan, so that little fact didn't interest me like Aunt Janice thought it might.

I knew my aunt was feeling guilty, she knew I'd been through a lot and I'm pretty sure she understand that for a sixteen year old girl, being dragged to the other side of the country and being shoved into a new high school is a pretty scary thing- to say the **least**. So, I was kind of expecting the big show she made when I finally tramped downstairs half an hour later; she had made pancakes and came rushing over to me with a small, neatly wrapped package with a big red bow on top. She held it out to me. I stared at it a little uncertainly before I took it from her hand.

"It's just a little something for your first day at school." Aunt Janice smiled, watching me unwrap it. It was a new cell phone, one that was much _better_ cell phone then my old one. My parents weren't exactly rich, we couldn't always afford the best things and sometimes we barely scraped by with paying our bills. I would never have expected a new phone, not in a million years. I smiled at Aunt Janice, it was a genuine smile.

"Thanks, Aunt Janice." I said eventually and her eyes lit up. "Really, this is great."

I didn't want her to think she could buy my approval with gifts, but as I sat down and saw the enormous stack of pancakes in front of me, I could see she had gone to a lot of effort. I didn't think she even knew how to cook as when she was staying with me in Pennsylvania, we had always ordered out, every single night. She was trying, I guess, and if she could try, then so could I.

As I ate, Aunt Janice started talking about the school and how she would give me a ride that morning but normally she left the house at 7AM so I would have to find a bus route to take. It was then I started to feel sick. I was nervous about this new school. I had been ever since it was first mentioned to me. I wasn't used to Californian schools, let alone East High, which was a school for snobs, to put it bluntly.

I wasn't rich and my clothes, even though I'd spent ages picking them out the night before, would certainly reflect that. I wore tight fitting denim shorts because it was an especially warm day, and a light blue sleeveless mini-dress which ended just above my shorts did, so my shorts were visible. I applied light blue mascara to my eyes and dark black eyeliner to my eyelids. My brown hair was straightened and lay draped down my shoulders. It was the best outfit I had and I reckoned I was putting it to good use by wearing it now. I remembered choosing it with Dani and one of my other friends, Hannah, and how they had both told me they were insanely jealous of my petite, thin figure.

At 8.15AM, Aunt Janice's SUV pulled up outside East High School and I got out of the passenger seat, slinging my backpack over one shoulder and told her goodbye. She smiled confidently at me and drove away; I stood there on the sidewalk with the sun beating down and kids all around me rushing this way and that.

I felt so alone at that moment.

Just then the loud school bell cut through my thoughts and jolted me back to Planet Earth. I looked around, feeling lost, as kids began to move into the school. I decided to follow a crowd of girls who I can only describe as Goths. They all wore black, one had her hair dyed a shocking pink colour and wore a collar of spikes around her neck. They all wore leather boots and had at least one piercing on their faces. I was cautious not to attract their attention as we entered the school hallway; something told me they weren't part of the school welcoming committee.

I walked through the hallway and felt all eyes on me, maybe I was just being self-conscious, or maybe everyone **was** starting at me – the new girl. I suddenly felt sick again, I could taste the pancakes and syrup at the back of my throat. Damn my early morning appetite.

Kids were standing at their lockers in their own little groups; it was kind of freaky seeing as I didn't have a group to go to. The smart kids with their greasy hair slicked back, holding their books tightly to their chests, stared at me sceptically through their glasses. A bunch of cute looking guys, who I guessed were all on the school basketball team, came charging down the hallway, bouncing basketballs and cheering and shouting "Go Wildcats!"

I found my locker; it was near where the jocks had congregated. I couldn't help but stare at them, a lot of other girls were staring at them with lust in their eyes, and the geeky looking guys clearly envied them.

"Come on, Zac… what happened with you guys last night?" The dark, spiky-haired jock was talking to a guy seemed to be their ringleader. He had muddy brown hair and piercing blue eyes, and when he smiled, I almost melted.

"With 'us'-? What're you talking about, dude?" The cutie, Zac, smiled at his friend.

"Dude, don't pretend like you don't know what we're talking about." His friend, with really big crazy hair groaned at him, rolling his eyes. "We're talking about you and Vanessa Hudgens."

"Come on, don't tell us you're not hooking up with the hottest, most popular girl in school, Zac. You guys left together." Another one of his friends laughed.

"Still don't have a clue what you guys mean. Vanessa and I are friends." Zac shrugged nonchalantly and tossed a basketball to his big-haired friend and started to walk away. The guys laughed and followed after him, talking amongst themselves.

I sighed, it figured. Hot guy like that, obviously he was taken by the hottest girl in school, whoever she was. I never really followed the cool crowd, and I wasn't about to change now. Not that I could get into the cool crowd. I opened my new locker and put a few books in and then decided to head off to find my homeroom class.

When I finally found my class, I realised I had arrived just in time as at that moment a stern looking man in his early forties ushered me in from behind.

"In, in, young lady!" He sighed impatiently and closed the door before going to sit at his desk. I looked around the classroom. There were a group of kids with their heads in books, talking about algebraic equations. There were some girls in cheerleading uniforms sitting on desks. And then there was Zac. He was sitting casually next to a cheerleader who was smiling flirtatiously at him. A pretty, dark-haired girl with olive-coloured skin and big brown eyes suddenly waltzed past me. She shoved by me like I didn't even exist. She had a whole entourage of girls behind her, one stood out in particular; she was blonde and wore designer sunglasses.

The dark haired girl stopped near Zac and the cheerleader, the cheerleader looked at her kind of nervously and then stood up and left. The dark haired girl smiled to herself and brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face and sat down. Her 'girls' sat down near them. Zac gave a small smile to himself and looked at her.

"That was rude." He smiled, he didn't look like he really cared about how rude she had been.

"So sue me." The girl shrugged and her girls sneered and laughed. Zac smiled again.

"Young lady, sit down!" The stern looking teacher was glaring over at me. I suddenly realised I was standing in the middle of the classroom alone, everyone else had found their seats. They were all looking at me. Including Zac and the girl. I blushed, feeling my skin go red hot.

"Um… sorry." I hurriedly looked around for a spare seat.

"There's a seat there." Zac kicked a seat in front of him and nodded his head towards it.

"Mr Efron, how many times have I told you to not use school property as a basketball?" The teacher rolled his eyes and stared at Zac, he spoke in a bored tone. Zac rolled his eyes.

"324 times." A dark haired boy from the back of the classroom spoke up and held up a book with lots of tallies on it. "I've been keeping a tally chart."

"Loser." Snorted the blond girl that had been with the dark haired girl next to Zac. They all sneered at him and he blushed. I decided to use the distraction to quickly go and sit down before I made an even bigger fool of myself.

"Uh, there's a seat over **there**." The dark haired girl suddenly spoke up as I came in front of her. She was pointing towards where the smart kids were sitting, she looked at me with an amused smile on her face. She knew I felt embarrassed and she loved it, she loved seeing me humiliated.

"Ooh, Vanessa, play nice!" The blonde haired girl next to her snickered; I turned my back on them and hurriedly sat down next to a sympathetic looking girl with freckles and glasses.

"Ashley, please. Someone has to teach the newbies." I heard Vanessa sigh irritably.

"And you're so charitable for doing so." Zac spoke in a mock-tone and Vanessa shrugged nonchalantly.

"Now, I can start roll call?" The teacher asked, looking fed up. No one spoke up against this.

So that was how my first day at East High School started.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please read and**** REVIEW! I LIVE for reviews. Seriously. They make me write so much more much more quickly! Hehe. Next chapter is coming!**


	6. Zanessa

It was scorching hot, the steaming sun was beating down on my bare midriff as I lay sprawled out across the sandy beach, and looked up at the cloudless sky through my dark sunglasses. **This** was living, I smiled to myself.

Over the sun, a tall, dark shadow appeared. It was a boy. A cute boy. A boy with dark-ish hair and piercing blue eyes. He smiled down and me and sat down beside me. He wore brown swimming trunks that showed off his impressively built, sexily tanned six-pack.

"Anna…" He moved his head closer to me; I could feel his cool breath on my tingling neck. My heart almost skipped a beat.

"You are amazing." He gushed.

I smiled, blushing, and leaned into kiss him. "I love you, Zac…"

Suddenly, my whirled began to spin. Literally, everything was rushing by me in a wild circle. Zac's face became distorted and faded away, the beach, the sand, the cool, blue sea all drifted away and an irritating, loud beeping noise pierced its way through my mind.

"Anna… Anna? ANNA!" I could hear a woman's voice urgently calling me.

That's when my eyes flew open and reality hit.

I was in my bedroom, in bed, drooling pathetically on my pillow with the latest issue of _Popstar!_ Magazine laying open next to me. My alarm clock was furiously beeping, screaming at me for my attention.

Aunt Janice stood at the foot of my bed, frowning with her arms folded. Her hair wasn't pulled back into a ponytail today. It was open and rested softly on her shoulders. She wore a smart, black suit and black heels.

"Anna Lebaude, you are the laziest child ever!" She grimaced at me.

"What..?" I groaned and slammed my alarm clock off. "I'm up, I'm up…"

"I can't even give you a lift to school now, **I'm** going to be late!" She sighed. "I'll be home by six tonight, I have a meeting with the dean."

"OK…" I grumbled as I trudged off to the bathroom, tossing the magazine to one side. Aunt Janice sighed disappointedly at me once more and then left. Five minutes later I heard her car drive off from the driveway.

I felt sick. I was having a beautiful dream, it was so beautiful. But now that I had woken up, I had realised who the dream was about. It was about me and the most popular guy at East High.

I had been at the school for nearly a month now and I had quickly learnt the way the school worked. Vanessa Hudgens and her groupies had made sure of that.

What I hadn't realised on my first day of school was that Zac Efron was the hottest guy around. When I say 'around', I don't mean just in High School universe, I mean in the Hollywood world. He had been in the hit Disney film 'High School Musical'. I can't believe I hadn't realised… I was so stupid. Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale (the blonde girl who had tried to be kind to me on my first day… but hadn't) were also in the film and now they were all finishing off High School together.

They were celebrities in their own right. I couldn't go a day without teachers or students talking about them. There were rumours that Zac and Vanessa were a couple. There were rumours that Zac and Ashley were a couple. There were so many rumours.

I looked at myself in the mirror now and felt even sicker. I had dark circles under my eyes; I had spent the night crying. I was starting to get used to L.A. and life again, but there were some moments when I was all alone that the memory of my parents would creep back into my mind… and I'd lose control.

It was weird then that I had been dreaming about Zac Efron… I mean, how had I switched from crying about my parents to **him**?

I did like him. He was so cute. He hadn't been snotty towards me. We'd barely said more then two words to each other but when we had, he had always been friendly, and he had an amazing sense of humour.

A smile crept across my face as I remembered the other day in the hallway when Zac had been messing around on his skateboard. Vanessa had been giggling with a couple of girls and 'ooh'-ing and 'aah'-ing every time Zac did a neat trick. The school principle had been walking past and told Zac to put away the skateboard because there was no skateboarding in the hallways. Zac had apologised sincerely and put the skateboard in his locker, but as soon as the principal had walked away, Zac and pulled out his skateboard again and jumped on it and cruised down the hallway shouting; "BOOMSHAKALAKAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" all the way down the hallway. Guys and girls had laughed and cheered, including me. He sped past me, I was kinda standing in the way and he'd been like 'Woah there, pretty lady…" as he'd swerved past me.

I sighed at the memory as I combed through my hair.

_Pretty lady._

I giggled to myself, blushing, even though no one was around.

I went into my bedroom to change my clothes and saw _Popstar!_ Magazine lying on the floor. The cover read **'ZANESSA HAWAII PIX EXCLUSIVE!'**

Zac + Vanessa Zanessa.

I sighed. It was obvious at school they were more then friends but seeing it there in print, it was like a slap in the face. Zac, Vanessa and Ashley had all been away from school a lot because they were filming High School Musical 2, and doing their own solo projects. Zac and Vanessa had gone away to Hawaii for 5 days off from work. It seemed innocent enough. Until pictures of them kissing, hugging and making out on the beach started to get splashed across magazines and newspapers alike.

I envied Vanessa, I guess. I didn't envy her because of the person that she was. She had been nothing but stuck-up around me, but I guess she was being over-protective of her boyfriend. He was voted one of _People_ Magazine's 100 most beautiful people after all…

There had to be some good in her if someone as wonderful as Zac was dating her. Maybe I'd figured her out all wrong.

I decided at that moment to try and be more understanding and nice to her, to not judge her on first impressions.

With that thought in mind, I left the house for another day at school. Although I knew this wouldn't be just any ordinary day.

No, today, the hallways would be filled with the buzzing excitement of the fact that Zanessa was official. Of course, there would be the cheerleaders who would totally turn green with jealousy at Vanessa, and the girls Vanessa had cruelly labelled 'dorks' who would sigh, just like me, and wonder why the bad people in the world got the best things.

But other than that, it was another day in the world.

God, I wish my mom was here.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please ****review**** this! I spend ages writing it so it will take you TWO seconds to give me ****a review****. I think that's fair LOL! Also, any suggestions on how I can improve the story in the later chapters are ****more then welcome**


	7. Never Good Enough

"It's not like she's perfect." Kaci Edwards rolled her eyes at one of her cheer-squad friends. Kaci was tall, blonde with blue eyes and beautiful. Her friend was no different. _They were cheerleaders, duh._ Being beautiful came as part of the package. I almost looked at them enviously now, just as how they were talking jealously behind Vanessa Hudgens' back.

I was in the locker room; I was getting changed after a gruelling game of netball and the cheerleaders were getting changed for cheerleading practice.

I had always thought cheerleaders had it made. I mean, every guy wanted to get in their pants, so naturally, they were adored. Every girl wanted to be as thin as them or as talented, so naturally, they were envied. I never thought **they** could be insecure. Yet, here they were bitching about Zanessa.

"Kace, you know Vanessa. What she wants, she gets." Her friend smiled truthfully as she tied her laces.

"It's just not fair. I'm a D cup and I have perfect skin!" Kaci whined.

"Right, yeah, because that's what's important(!)" Fatima, who was getting dressed besides me, whispered sarcastically in my ear. She didn't whisper low enough. Kaci's head shot up and her blue eyes narrowed angrily at Fatima.

"Oh, look. It's Fatty-Bum." Kaci sneered.

Fatima was red-haired, with freckles. She had a round, kind face and deep blue eyes behind her glasses. She wasn't the most popular or pretty girl at school, her hips were unflatteringly wide and sometimes the clothes she wore even made me cringe, but she was a good person. That was the reason why we had clicked since my first day at East High. She'd shown me around the school and helped me to get settled.

"Oh, Kace, stop torturing the physically unfortunate. We're getting late." Kaci's friend sighed and got up, picking up her pom-poms and sauntering past us. Kaci strode past us, behind her friend, shooting us a superior look as she left.

"She's a bra-stuffer, you know." Fatima nodded at me. I cracked up laughing and closed my locker. Fatima started to put her clothes into her bag. I leaned against my locker and looked at Fatima.

"Fatima…" I began, not quite sure where I was heading.

"Anna…" Fatima copied my tone, mocking me. I laughed and shrugged to myself.

"I don't know what I want to say." I sighed eventually. "It's nothing important anyway."

"Lemme guess, it's to do with Mr. Zac Efron?" Fatima smirked as she zipped up her bag. I blushed and she noticed and groaned inwardly.

"Oh, God, Anna… don't do this to yourself." Fatima shook her head and I frowned.

"What, do what?" I asked defensively as I slung my schoolbag over my shoulder. We were the only two girls left in the locker rooms now.

"You know _what_!" Fatima laughed. "I've tried to coach you to the ways of East High as much as I possibly could, Anna Lebaude, but I can't coach your heart."

"What do you mean?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well she was talking about Zac.

"I've seen the way you look at Zac Efron." She sighed. "That wistful look you get in your eyes, the way a shivering sigh passes through you every time he passes by… girlfriend, you got it bad."

I could feel my skin going red-hot now. It was true. Zac Efron was becoming like an infatuation to me now. Ever since he had returned from Hawaii, he and Vanessa had become less subtle about their relationship. Last week they had gone to the Kids Choice Awards together, and then at school, a boy in Biology said he saw them kissing in the hallways when they thought no one was around. Vanessa did make me jealous, but I wasn't insanely obsessed with her. I just wished things could be different. I just wished I knew what it took to be good enough for Zac Efron.

Which was why I frowned at Fatima now.

"You think I don't stand a chance with him?" I sighed, and as I said it, I knew it was probably true.

"Honey, I've only known you for a short time but from what I've seen, you're kind, you're smart, you're goddamn beautiful and you're caring…" She shook her head. "That just… it doesn't seem good enough for a guy like him. You wanna know how I know? Because there's 500 students in this school. About 300 of them are girls. And about 200 of them are just like you. From all those people, he chooses Vanessa Hudgens. He chooses the bitch." Fatima shrugged. "Maybe she's a witch and did some kinda voo-doo shit. I don't know."

"So what are you saying?" I asked, my heart sinking. I was getting a slap back into reality.

"I'm saying that what I **do** know is this: You're wasting your time waiting for a bastard like Zac Efron to recognise you. If he can't see the wonderfulness in you, then screw him. You're beautiful. You don't need his affection." She had the most serious look on her face, I swallowed hard. "Just… move on, Anna. Stop standing in the hallways with a love-struck look on your face every time he passes by, stop worshipping him. It's not going to happen sweetie…"

I knew she was being cruel to be kind. I knew I wasn't going to be good enough for him. Yet, there was no harm in dreaming… right?

Fatima was bold, she swore, she rebelled, she did what she wanted to do. She was almost like a guy-friend, except she was a girl. She didn't care about her looks, she didn't care what people thought and she certainly didn't care about Zac Efron. She was strong.

I was everything she wasn't. I needed the approval of popular people. I wanted Zac, but did I need him?

Fatima started to leave the locker room, and with a small sigh, I followed after her.

She was right. I had to get out of this fantasy world of movie premieres, Hollywood stars, the paparazzi, VIP treatment… that was Zac's life with Vanessa, not mine. I was here at school to plan for my future, to get to college. I was going to focus on that from now on.

Play time was over.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, thank you for the reviews. Please review EVERY CHAPTER telling me whether you like it or not. I really want people to give me their suggestions! PLEASE. PLEASE. REVIEW!! **

**One suggestion is to make it so Anna and Zac do not get together, and so I'm trying to work something out, but I want other people's opinions too. Should Anna get Zac?**

**Next chapter coming very soon! although some REVIEWS might help it come along faster LOL!**


	8. Author's Say

**Author's Say:**

Alright, so I'm guessing everyone was expecting a new chapter, and I'm sorry, but you have to read this first!

I love the reviews, please keep them coming and the suggestions are beautiful!

Originally, the story was intended to be your traditional 'boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl have some problems but everything turns out alright in the end'.

But from your reviews, I see you guys want something a little juicier and interesting! So I won't insult you by feeding you the same old 'boy meets girl' story.

I have a problem. Some people want Anna and Zac to hook up, and some don't. Well, I have the perfect solution for this. As far as I'm concerned at the moment: there will be 'Zanna' moments, **but **there will be a lot more Zanessa. That's ALL I'm saying. :

As for why the story is rated M, well, let's just say that the start of the story is from Anna's point of view. She's a softie who is sort of confused and in 'wonderland' at the moment, but reality is, after all, rated M. When reality hits, things will get ugly. And for all you expecting sex scenes, you weren't wrong!

Keep your suggestions and reviews coming!

Much love!!

xoxo


	9. Mrs Jones

Mrs. Jones was an amazing person. She had light blue eyes, clear skin and cropped soft blonde hair that was slicked back into a ponytail. She was beautiful and thin; all the guys in English Lit had a crush on her. Well, I suppose most of them had a crush on her, most of them were perverted. Others, like Zac, were more lost in their own world and neglected the superiority of Mrs. Jones.

She was really young, about 22 years old, I'd guess, and she was wonderful because she understood me. It's always difficult coming to a new school. Teachers are never sure how to treat you because they don't know if you're a smart kid, or someone who needs special 'attention'. I think Mrs. Jones understood I wasn't completely retarded just because my parents had died. She really got me into writing. I could sit for two or three hours in my bedroom in the evening just writing my thoughts and feelings. It certainly made a change from me doodling 'Mrs. Anna Efron' all over my notebooks, I guess.

My general love and passion for writing actually showed in class too, because every time we had an assignment or book report to do, everyone would roll their eyes when my turn would come up for me to share my work. The bitchy girls would sigh and say "Great, it's little miss poet, and doesn't she half know it."

I pretended to be annoyed, but really, I kind of liked having a place in the school. Everyone had their cliques, everyone had their place. So far, I had established myself to be the quiet girl in the back of the class who was pretty but boring. No one knew me outside of school. No one knew how fun-loving I used to be in Pennsylvania when I could stay out until midnight, making trouble around town with my friends. Now everyone knew me as the 'smart kid in English Lit class'. It felt kind of cool to be the smart one for once.

I was sitting in English now, we were reading through 'Hamlet'. I was proud of myself because I was actually into the Shakespeare rather then having my attention diverted by what Zac was doing at the front of the class. He was hot, his hair was getting lighter. He had dyed it to a darker colour for a new movie he had filmed. Zac wasn't doing so well in English Lit. Then again, what did it matter to him how well he did in one class when he already had everything made? What Fatima had said to me the other day in the locker rooms had really brought me back into reality.

Then again, I couldn't help but to look at him. He was fiddling around with his blue biro. He looked amazingly cute today; he wore a blue, tight-fitting sweater and dark denim jeans with white sneakers. His vivid blue eyes were lit up with excitement right now.

I tried to concentrate on the assignment in front of me and not his shenanigans. Mrs. Jones had set us a task of analysing an extract from Hamlet. Zac was doing anything but. He looked up to one of his friends; Chris R. Chris was a lot like Zac, he was mischievous and lived for skateboarding. The only difference between them was that Chris wanted to direct, not act, like Zac was doing. Also, Chris wasn't famous and he wasn't nearly as cute as Zac, although he wasn't exactly not easy on the eyes.

Chris was exchanging a knowing glance with Zac right now, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris flick a paperclip at Kaci, the cheerleader from the locker rooms. She sat in front of Chris, the paperclip bounced off her shoulder and she turned her head sharply. Her eyes met Chris's and her stern demeanour softened. She gave him a flirtatious smile. Chris gave her a _fake_ sickly-sweet smile and did a cute little wave. Mrs. Jones noticed.

"Chris!" She shouted, turning from the black-board, looking annoyed. Chris looked up, Kaci quickly turned away.

"What?" Chris asked, putting on his best confused look. Zac suppressed a giggle and Mrs. Jones' attention turned towards him.

"And just what's so funny, Mr. Efron?" She queried him.

"Oh my God, Mr. Efron is **way** sexy!" Lynette, a ditzy blonde girl sitting with Kaci blurted out and the whole class burst into a fit of giggles. Even I couldn't help but to smile to myself at that one. Chris playfully nudged Zac who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hey, I can't say she lies." Zac joked.

Mrs. Jones, as wonderful as she was, looked furious.

Just then, the bell rang for the end of class, everyone started to gather their books, bags and stationary and leave, including me.

"Zac Efron, Anna Lebaude- stay behind please." Mrs. Jones called over the ruckus of the class leaving.

My heart skipped a beat. Was I in trouble? I looked over at Zac who barely regarded me and my heart melted. All this flip-flopping was going to give me a heart-attack.

The class suddenly emptied and only me, Zac and Mrs. Jones were left behind. Zac stood casually at her desk, adjusting the strap on his school bag. I ambled across the classroom to stand opposite him so Mrs. Jones was standing in-between us. My palms began to sweat. I was so nervous.

"I'll be short with you, Zac." Mrs. Jones began with a grave tone. "You're failing."

Zac barely flinched. This wasn't news to him. I suddenly became worried, was I failing too? I thought I had been doing OK. I can't believe it, the one subject that I actually take an active interest in and this is what happens?!

"And she…" Mrs. Jones gestured to me, "She isn't."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"She only just transferred here no more than two months ago and she's already top of the class." She continued, making me blush. Zac's eyes were directly on me now.

"OK…" Zac nodded. "So… what're we going to do?"

"Oh, **we **aren't doing anything, Zac." Mrs. Jones nodded towards me. "She is. Meet your new English Lit tutor. I want you guys spending all your free periods together, and maybe, just maybe if your 'movie star' schedule allows you to, maybe you can spend a weekend together too."

I nearly fainted.

I was Zac Efron's English Literature tutor. I was going to have to spend time with him. Oh my God, I would get hours with him, just me and him, alone! English Lit and Zac Efron… wow. I was nervous but sort of excited too. I looked at Zac, trying to figure out how he felt. He looked at Mrs. Jones and then at me.

"Alright, cool." He smiled at me. "Thanks for helping me out…. Anna."

I blushed all over again. He knew my name!

"I don't mind." I smiled back.

Mrs. Jones smiled and led us out of her classroom. Zac said something about catching me later during a free period and wandered off with Chris who was waiting for him.

I drifted off down the corridors, I had the biggest smile on my face ever. I wafted past Fatima in my dreamlike state and she watched me walk floatingly past her, she was talking to a girl. They both looked at me with a confused expression on their faces. As I walked away from them, the biggest smile ever plastered across my face, I heard them talk:

"Yo, what's with the new girl?"

"I think she's on crack."

I laughed to myself as I breezed down the hallways.

I hadn't felt this happy in a long time. It was weird how one person could change everything for you.

**AUTHORS NOTE: **

**Please REVIEW!!**** As usual LOL! **

**Also, to the person who said I should to Zac and V's points-of-views, I'm planning a SEQUEL and PREQUEL to 'Superstar'. The sequel will be Zac's perspective and the Prequel will be Vanessa's! But you've got about thirty more chapters of this to go through first! Haha.**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW **

**I live for REVIEWS!! Seriously.**

**Thanks so much guys. I will respond to any suggestions. So leave them in a REVIEW!**


	10. Feedback

Hey everyone!

The next chapter is very coming soon. I was just reading through some of the fantastic reviews you guys have provided me with and I just had to comment back to some of your suggestions and queries, so please bear with me.

**DREAMSESCAPE: **I like how compassionate you feel towards Anna. Don't worry about her future; it's already taken care of! Everything has been planned out for Anna, I am making a few tweaks here and there based on the reviews you guys leave, but fear not, she's got something coming for her and trust me, it's something none of you will suspect!

**LIZZIEROKASGERMAIN: **I love all the Vanessa ideas you guys are coming up with, Vanessa and Anna are from two different worlds but who knows? Worlds collide, right? But what you have to remember is Vanessa is… Vanessa Anne Hudgens. She's famous and she's used to people pretending to be her friend because she's famous and rich, people use her. She's also become very involved in the 'Hollywood' scene, so she's changed a lot. She's mean and tough but her situations made her that way. She'll surprise you. 

**CHARMZI:** Corbin will make appearances. The entire HSM cast will, along with their friends.

**SOPHIE220: **_How exactly are you going to sell your fans on Zanessa if you've made her out to be such a total bitch? I recommend you stick with Zanna since it seems cute enough._

The story so far is Anna's point of view. From Anna's perspective, Vanessa is a rival, and of course Anna's going to view her as a bitch and highlight every bad thing Vanessa does. This is Anna's story and Anna's not looking to sell Zanessa!

_And about the prequel and sequel, I think that's rushing it a bit because I doubt you've even written out the ending to this one, right? Sorry if i sound like a bitch, I didnt get any coffee this morning, but I just wanted to say I like the Zanna, but am totally turned off of the Zanessa. I dont think you should do a prequel in her point of view_

Haha this is a great bit of constructive criticism, Sophie, you do not sound like a bitch, you're opinions and views are highly valid!

If anything, they make a lot of sense. A prequel was decided by me because of your first question, of how can I expect readers to relate to Zanessa when Vanessa is a bitch. Well, in order for that to happen, I felt a sequel from Vanessa/Zac's perspectives was important. However, I may re-think it, thanks for your suggestion! Also, I will be resolving the Zanna storylines in a way that you will hopefully agree with. If not, let me hear about it! LOL.

**ASHLEYFAN64:** I'm not American either, but Zac Efron is American, so I did a little research on American High Schools, hopefully it's accurate LOL! I'm British.

Keep the brilliant reviews and suggestions coming and I do not mind any constructive criticism whatsoever. You guys make this story what it is through all your ideas! So leave a review/comment if you have anything to say because I read every single one and cherish it… haha.

Oh, and before I go: Hi Suzie! You can feel even more special because I mentioned you again! LOL

Keep reading, people!


	11. Teaching Zac Efron

**Anna**

It was 11.40AM.

I sat stock still in the school library, a copy of _Hamlet_, my notebook, notes and a pen lay spread out before me on the table.

Now I just needed one more thing.

Zac Efron.

We had agreed to meet during free period on Monday morning in the library at 11.30 on the dot. I'm certain he said the library. A rush of panic surged through me as I realised that I might have gotten it wrong. I told myself to calm down and that I was being silly. He had said the library, of course he'd said the library, I mean, where else could we go? He was just 10 minutes late. It didn't mean anything. It was a Monday morning; he'd probably had a crazy, fun-filled superstar weekend and was running a little late, that was all.

Then again, what if he hadn't been serious at all? He had been in kind of a rush when I had stopped him in the hallway and asked him about when he wanted to get together to study. Vanessa had shot me a dirty look as she placed a possessive hand on Zac's shoulder, and he had seemed slightly uncomfortable. Maybe he had just said that to get me off his back.

I pouted to myself as I toyed around with the pen. It was 11.52AM now. He was nearly half an hour late. This sucked. I was getting stood up by Zac Efron... Well, not _stood up_ in the 'dating' sense, but stood up nonetheless. Maybe the thought of spending time with me repulsed him so much that he couldn't bear to come to the session. I could feel my heart breaking before anything had even happened. I hadn't even so much as kissed this guy and yet he had managed to trample all over my feelings.

I sighed as I looked around the library. A librarian was standing opposite my table at a row of bookshelves, she was arranging the books. Three nerdy looking boys were closely huddled around a computer a table away from mine; they kept looking up and shooting suspicious looks around them and seemed on edge. It couldn't have been more obvious that they were watching porn if they had stepped out into the middle of the library and shouted 'I'm perverted, I need a girlfriend!'

Next to them was a guy I recognised from English Lit, but he was very quite, I'd never spoken to him. He was kind of cute, in the silent and reserved kind of way. He had jet black hair and piercing green eyes; he was well built too. He had a habit of wearing dark colours; he normally wore dark brown, grey or black. I couldn't say his style in clothing didn't suit him. He was sitting alone at the table; he was known to be kind of a loner, from what I had heard, his head was firmly stuck in a thick book.

The only other person in the library was Fatima, she was sitting a couple of tables away with her friend, a guy I know from Biology, Callum. They were both looking at something on the computer in front of them and Callum was laughing. It suddenly registered to me that the two made a very cute couple. Although I would never mention it to Fatima, she would probably kill me. I had joked about Callum being her boyfriend the first time I had seen the two of them together and she had almost murdered me. I smiled a little to myself at the memory. Fatima looked up from the computer and her eyes met mine. She gave me a sympathetic smile as she saw the chair next to mine was empty.

I groaned inwardly as I looked away from her, feeling humiliated. I looked up at the clock, it was 12.15PM. Well, enough was enough. Zac might be a big star but if he didn't want to bother to turn up for a meeting he'd arranged, then that was his loss. I mean, he was losing the grades, not me.

I quickly gathered my books together and shoved everything into my schoolbag and then began to leave. I meandered my way through the tables, in a rush to get away and not looking where I was going, like an idiot, I clambered into someone. My bag dropped to the floor along with their books.

"Oh! I'm so sorry-" I rushed to bend down and pick them up. The person also did the same. Our heads bumped.

"Ow!" I yelped and looked up to see the dark haired, quiet boy who I had seen reading a book before rubbing his head.

"It's OK." He laughed a little nervously. The librarian at the bookshelf hissed angrily at us with a 'Shhh!'

"No it's not…" I whispered. "I'm an idiot, I wasn't looking where I was going."

We both bent down, I picked up one of his books for him.

"Well, we're all entitled to stupidity every once in a while." He smiled a little as I handed it to him. I nodded and smiled back politely. I could see Fatima out of the corner of my eye making her way towards me. I really didn't need one of her Zac lectures right now. I gave another quick polite smile to the guy whose name I still didn't know, who for some strange reason was still standing there in front of me, and quickly dashed out of the library.

The second I got down the stairs and into the hallway, I sighed a breath of relief. I looked around hopefully, hoping to maybe catch Zac running down the hallway in a rush to get to the library, to come and apologise to me for being so late… Ha, fat chance!

I was supposed to be _teaching_ Zac Efron. Huh! That was a joke.

I scowled at myself as I walked down the hallway to my next class.

**Zac**

The only feeling I could use to describe this amazing moment was… amazing. I couldn't have felt happier right now if I'd just watched the Mets play at the Dodgers stadium with VIP seats. Now that I think about it, I _probably_ could get VIP seating. Now that was a thought…

"Mm…"

I smiled down at the beautiful, dark haired _goddess_ that lay in my arms. She was mumbling in her sleep again. I leaned my head closer to hers, I could feel her hot breath on my neck and left ear.

"Zac…" She moaned. I smiled.

"Vanessa…" I mimicked her soft tone and her eyes flew open. She immediately bolted upright in the bed, slamming her arm into my head, wrapping the white bed-sheets around her naked chest.

"Ow… Jesus!" I groaned as I moved away from her, clutching my head as pain shot through it.

"Zac… God, I'm sorry." She sighed, looking less startled now.

"Do you kill every guy you sleep with?" I asked, smiling a little now at her expression. She looked worried; she was cute when she looked worried. She gave a little smile now.

"Nope. It's just you." She giggled.

"Well, then…" I inched closer to her and put my arms around her, "I feel really special."

She giggled again and I smiled down at her. Her dark brown eyes, her thick eye-lashes, her beautifully chiselled cheek-bones… she was perfect. I could never take my eyes off her.

And then I did. I saw the clock, and instantly kicked myself for looking away from Vanessa. It was 11.42AM. It suddenly struck to me that I was late. I immediately released Vanessa, whose head hit the pillow.

"Ow!" She whined, her smile fading as she frowned.

"Now we're even." I laughed as I sprinted out of the bed, naked, and into the bathroom.

"Cute butt!" She wolf-whistled after me as I laughed as I hopped into the shower, not bothering to close the bathroom door behind me. Vanessa soon followed after me; she was wearing my blue t-shirt. She walked over to the sink and started brushing her teeth.

"I was planning on wearing that shirt today." I said, sticking my head out of the shower. She turned around and shot me a 'so what?' look. I laughed.

"It's one of the perks I get for being so small and short. I can wear anything of yours." She shrugged as she rinsed off her toothbrush.

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping my towel around me and walked over to her, hugging her from behind. She groaned, looking annoyed, as I knew she would.

"Ugh, Zac…. you're getting everything wet." She whined.

"It's my shirt…" I said in a sing-song voice. I didn't really mind her wearing my clothes, she always did. I just loved to tease her. "How would you like it if I wore your new wonderbra?"

"I…" Vanessa frowned. "_**Why**_ would you wear my wonderbra?!" She laughed and I hugged her closer to me.

"So, what was the rush…? Getting out of bed like that?" Vanessa quizzed. "Because it seems to me like you want to go back…"

I smiled at her. "I do… but… I'm late for school."

Vanessa shrugged and looked at me. "We're always late for school."

"Yeah, but I was supposed to be doing a revision session with this girl from Eng Lit…" I walked out of my bedroom and saw the clock. It was 12.15AM.

"It looks like I'm too late now anyway." I sighed and sat down on the bed. Vanessa came and sat next to me.

"She was supposed to be teaching me, I'm failing…" I felt distressed. I couldn't bear to fail.

"Well, I'm sure _I _could teach you a thing… or two." Vanessa smiled coyly as she leaned over and kissed me. Her lips felt so soft, so right. I instantly forgot everything and anything about school, work, deadlines, interviews, magazines… It was just me and her again. And I never wanted it to end.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**I hope you guys like my new style of showing other character's ****point-of-views too!! IF YOU DON'T LET ME KNOW. Please please please REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW to let me know you like this style.**

**REVIEWWWWW.**

**I love all your suggestions, so give me a REVIEW! Grr. Lol. **


	12. Wishes

**Vanessa**

He was lying beside me, his dirty blonde hair a slight mess, with a peaceful look on his face and his eyes closed. His strong arms encapsulated me in a tight embrace.

I felt wanted in those arms… arms of love.

I felt needed.

I felt loved.

And then I came back to reality.

I wasn't supposed to be here. I wasn't supposed to be doing this.

My heart beat furiously in my chest from the excitement and fear of what I was doing as I slowly manoeuvred out of his stronghold and got out of the bed.

My white skinny jeans lay in a tattered mess on the floor besides my yellow halter top. _Well, it had been a bit of a rush last night…_

I started to pull on my jeans; he was still asleep and completely unaware of the rest of the world.

I suddenly remembered my hair and ran into the bathroom and grabbed a brush and began to furiously tackle the curly tangled mess of dark hair.

When I left his apartment, I knew there would be someone or other out there to see me. Someone or other would notice I was wearing last night's clothes and somewhere or other pictures would appear of me from last night and this morning, comparing my outfits. Someone would realise. I hoped that someone wasn't him. I loved him… God, I love him. Then why I am here? In this bathroom… in my jeans and a bra… with _him_ in that bed? What's it all for?

I need love.

Is he the one? He won't talk about us. We didn't even exist in the public eye until recently… did he prefer it that way? I wish he would talk to me. I wish there wasn't this distance between us… because when I'm with him… oh, when I'm with him, the sparks fly.

I rushed out of the apartment. He was stirring in the bed; I think I heard him mumble my name as I ran out, grabbing my jacket and slamming the door behind me.

_Zac, I love you. I just wish… Oh, how I wish__ things weren't so hard. I wish things could be different. I wish._

**Anna**

I walked into school in the morning. It was a beautiful day; the sky was a clear blue and you could actually here the birds singing… or tweeting. Which ever one it was… it was beautiful. I almost didn't feel disappointed about Zac Efron 'bailing' on me. Then again, it was me he had bailed on; it was more like he had bailed on schoolwork. Who wouldn't bail on schoolwork? I really couldn't take this personally. Then again… I couldn't act like a soppy little love-struck school-girl and forgive him. If he wasn't serious about getting better grades in English Literature, then why should I be serious about teaching him?

My head was feeling so mixed up right now. I saw Fatima sitting on the grass outside the school entrance, beneath a tree. She had a book in her lap but she wasn't reading it, she was looking off into space; daydreaming.

"Hey nerd." I joked, nudging her slightly when I got near her. She looked up, regarding me with a serious look on her face.

"Hey." Her voice was low and soft.

I stopped. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?" I asked tactfully, sitting down.

"Life." She replied after giving a big sigh. "Did you know it sucks?"

I laughed a little and rested my head against the tree. "Yeah, I had that figured out a while ago. So what happened?"

"My parents… arguing as usual." Fatima rolled her eyes. "Except now it's fighting like… like they can't stand each other. Mom was talking about divorce…"

My heart hurt. I looked down with a sad look in my eyes. I wished my parents were still here. I wished things weren't like this.

"I'm sorry…" I finally managed to squeak.

"Hell, don't be." Fatima shrugged and looked at me. "It's better this way. You think I like hearing them screaming like bitches at four in the morning about who forgot to buy milk last night? Fuck no."

"Now that's the Fatima I remember…" I giggled and hugged her.

"Ugh, gerroff!" Fatima moaned but she was laughing at the same time. "I don't do well with public displays of affection."

"Oh, but you need love!" I laughed and hugged her even tighter.

"Lordy, looky what's we gots here! Californian Lesbians!"

I looked up, Fatima quickly shrugged me away. It was Chris and a group of his friends. I looked over them, all of them had amused looks on their faces; I didn't see Zac.

"Go suck your-" Fatima began angrily but I cut her off.

"Where's Zac?" I said, looking stern, and stood up, brushing the grass off myself.

"Do I look like his Siamese twin?" Chris shot at me and his friends tittered.

"No, you look like his shit." Fatima glared; she was standing up beside me now and putting her book into her schoolbag. There were hoots all around Chris from his friends, Chris looked humiliated.

"Wow, it has a voice." Chris fixed his eyes on Fatima, she was looking right back at him, watching him- like a cobra getting ready to strike. I decided to take Fatima by the arm and lead her away, I looked over my shoulder at Chris.

"Listen, if you see or hear from Zac, tell him he needs to catch up with me-"

"Zac needs to do no such thing."

I stopped in my tracks. It was Vanessa with two of her friends whose names I wasn't exactly sure of. They were both tall, pretty and were expensive designer clothes, one wore Gucci avatars. Vanessa wore tight fitting denim shorts and a blue sleeveless top, her short curly hair rested on her shoulders. She had a menacing look on her face that was aimed at me. She now stood next to Chris and his goons.

Fatima broke free of my grip and stood in front of me, opposite Vanessa.

"Listen, hun, don't feel threatened. She just needs to see lover boy about _school_, not sex. That's what you're there for, right?"

As soon as the words left Fatima's lips, I knew we were in big trouble. Even Fatima's face seemed to redden as she realised the enormity of the situation she had now gotten herself into.

There were just the two of us… and about 1300 students at East High who would kill anyone that spoke a word against their teenage sweetheart, Miss Vanessa Hudgens.

Vanessa's lips twisted into a cruel smirk as people began to gather around, looking at Fatima with anger or interest. I suddenly turned bright red as everyone contemplated me as the accomplice.

"You did not just say that, you fat piece of shit." Vanessa's blonde friend spoke hatefully.

"You're fucked up, you know that? What right have you got to say that about their relationship?" Number 2 barked.

"Oh, please." Fatima regained her composure and rolled her eyes. "So I insulted the _golden couple_. Ha! Like their so fucking golden. Call me fat bitch but I know a relationship in crisis when I see one."

"Just shut up." Vanessa growled. She had a calm look on her face; she crossed her arms across her chest and frowned.

"Oh, wait a minute… wait a minute… can you even call fucking for fuck a relationship?" Fatima pretended to think, I was beginning to feel nervous.

"Face it, Hudgens, you're not so golden. You're not so precious. If he loved you so much why isn't he here right now?"

"He's in London, premiering Hairspray. You wouldn't understand, but a PREMIERE is what famous, pretty people get to go to." Number 1 fought back. I groaned inwardly, why couldn't Chris just tell me that? Why did he have to be such a jerk?

"Whatever. You don't fool me." Fatima smiled. "You treat every girl in this school like shit. What are you- worried he's gonna go off you and find real love?"

That did it. Enough was enough.

"Let's go…" I muttered to Fatima, who looked at Vanessa Hudgen's… right at her, right in her face, with a look of pure hatred. But she let me drag her away to the stairs leading to the inside of the school.

"Aww, had enough already have we?" Chris cat-called, I shot him a glare and carried on walking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vanessa look down. It was so weird. I could swear… I saw, I don't know, I swear I saw a tear. She had the strangest look on her face, like she was going to cry.

But that was insane. She was Vanessa Hudgens. She was a famous superstar with the world at her feet. What did the words of one girl mean to her? It's not like they were true.

As soon as we got inside the school hallways, Fatima shrugged my hand off her arm again.

"Why did you have to do that?!" I spoke angrily. "Now the entire school's going to hate us."

"Who cares about the school? School isn't your life." Fatima rolled her eyes as she strode to her locker. I realised then that she really couldn't care less. She was insane.

"You know what? You're insane!" I burst out.

"Insane and hot. Don't forget hot."

I rolled my eyes and leaned against the locker next to hers as she started putting her books away. Just then, out of the blue, my cellphone began to ring in my schoolbag. I groaned and pulled it out. I looked at the screen and almost died of a heart attack at the name. Danielle. My best friend… my best friend who hadn't even bothered to give me a single crummy call since I'd moved away. So why was she calling now?

"Dani?" I answered and saw Fatima shoot a quizzical look in my direction as she slammed her locker shut.

"I'll see you at lunch." She said as she left, I nodded back in response and then turned away, still holding the phone to my ear.

"Anna?"

"Yes, duh, it's me. Who else would it be?" I snapped, losing my patience. Danielle laughed at my response.

"Anna… I'm so sorry I haven't called. Things have been crazy over here." She sounded apologetic.

"It's alright… How are you?" I asked.

"Not good." Her voice trembled. "I have some bad news."

My mind suddenly flashbacked to months ago, me sitting in a hospital waiting room with a doctor in a white lab coat with a clipboard standing over me telling me he had some bad news.

What could be the bad news? What more did I have to lose?

"What… what is it?" I whispered, almost too afraid to ask.

"Where are you?" Danielle interrupted.

"School."

"Oh, well… listen, we can talk later. I'd rather you were at home when you heard this."

"Dani, tell me." I grimaced.

"I'll call back later." She said, almost as if she hadn't heard me, and hung up. I stared at the phone disbelievingly. How could she only tell me half of something? It wasn't fair!

What could the news be? My eyes started filling up at the memory of my parents. It wasn't fair. I could feel it… I could feel it in my bones, the sense that I was going to lose something else, the sense that Danielle's news was going to end another chapter in my life whether I wanted it to or not.

_Mom, dad... Why can't you be here? Why do I have to miss you every day when everyone else gets to take their parents for granted? _

_I wish things weren't so hard. _

_I wish things were different._

**Vanessa**

I couldn't let them see me break down. I couldn't let them see me cry.

They were all standing beside me, looking over my shoulder, thinking they know me, thinking they love me.

No one understands…

Kaycee was beside me, playing around with her blonde hair.

"That fat shit…She has no idea what she's talking about."

I didn't have the energy to answer.

"I… I have to go." I turned away, Kaycee looked confused.

"I'll come with you!"

"NO!" I almost shouted. "No… I need to do stuff… alone."

I walked away from the crowd; everyone's eyes were on me. They were all watching me, but then again, nothing was different there. I knew where I was going. I ran around the school until I got to the back, where I was shaded by trees, and well and truly alone.

I pulled out my cellphone, my hands were shaking. I needed to hear him. I needed for it to not be true.

"Hey, it's Vanessa." I breathed into the phone, my voice trembled, my hands shook. In front of people, I could put on a show and look braver then I really was. Now I was alone, there was no one to watch my show, I could be me. I could cry, I could _need_, I could _be_.

"Hey baby…" That sexy, sultry voice.

"I need you…" I spoke, my voice breaking into a screech as tears rushed down my cheeks.

"Vanessa…? Are you OK?" He sounded so confused.

"I need… I need you to tell me you love you." I spoke in between gasps as hot tears continued to stream down my face.

"Hey, hey. Of course I love you. I love you more then anything." His words pierced my heart and I melted. The tears still kept on coming. He loved me. I was needed. I meant something.

_I wish you were here Zac. I wish you could kiss me and the__n tell me you love me. I wish it but I can't say it. _

_For the second time today I'm here wishing things were different._

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Guys, REVIEW! If you don't REVIEW I won't feel like writing haha. SERIOUSLY, REVIEW, REVIEW REVIEW, it really gives me a boost. Tell me if you enjoyed this chapter or not. TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REVIEW, I SPENT AN HOUR WRITING THIS SO 2 SECS ARE NOTHING! PLEASE DO IT.**

**Thank you soooo much. **

**CHAPTER 11 SOON!**


	13. An Important Message

To my wonderful readers;

Thank you guys so much for your patience. I know that it must be difficult when your reading something, and just as you are really starting to become acquainted with the characters and really enjoy the storyline and plot twists that the author suddenly stops and disappears for months on end! I am truly sorry.

I live with my grandparents who are not getting any younger, my grandfather retired exactly a month ago because the stress of work was too much and my grandmother just had a very narrow escape with hypothermia. Add the end of school and pressures of applying to colleges and the fact that I have to juggle two summer jobs… Well, I'm sure you guys can see it's a miracle my hair hasn't turned white!

I just wanted to check in and thank you so much for the continuing reviews which I love ever so much and the messages that I get of support. You guys are all so amazing. Reading is essential, and I'm so glad I am writing something people can relate to and can enjoy.

You can expect the next chapter to be updated by the end of this week. That's a promise!

Yours eternally;

ZacEfronFiction


	14. Enemies

_**Anna**_

"That fat bitch!"

"I know, right? Like what is she doing? Chewing his face off?"

"Personally, it makes me sick to even watch it." Kaci retorted with disgust to her friend Lynette. The two were standing behind me at their lockers in their cheerleading outfits and doing what they always did: gossiping. Except today it wasn't normal high school hallway natter, it was a full blown attack at Nikki Blonsky. The poor girl made the 'mistake' (if you can call it that) of smooching Zac Efron at an interview as part of their promoting _Hairspray._ It was completely professional, Zac even called it a little bit of 'harmless improv' at an interview with _Extra!_ People at East High, however, didn't really see it that way. Almost everyone feels a need to alliance themselves with Vanessa Hudgens and to do that, they feel they have to hate Nikki. Personally, I was a little surprised by the kiss, but I didn't see anything more to it then Link Larkin and Tracy T. making out – not Zac and Nikki.

"We totally need to boycott MOD. They're so pathetic; they'll do anything for ratings." Lynette added, nodding solemnly.

"You're right. It's like our duty." Kaci added seriously as the two girls walked off. I closed my locker to see Fatima approaching, her long hair lay open on her shoulders and she held a chemistry book.

"It's like, our, like DUTY." Fatima mimicked the two girls who had just walked away and I laughed.

"Hey."

"I guess they saw the MOD interview." Fatima grinned as she went to her locker, which was next to mine.

"I think everyone in school either saw it or heard about it." I sighed, leaning on my own locker as I waited for her to shove her books into her bags.

"Nah, I'm betting everyone saw it." Fatima's eyes sparkled.

"You bet on it?" I looked at her, frowning for a minute.

"Oh, well… you know, there might be a certain YouTube link circulating on the Internet on MySpace… maybe." Fatima shrugged innocently. "But hey, what I do know?"

"You're the one messaging everyone that link? I GOT THAT LINK!" I stared at her incredulously. I knew Fatima liked to make jokes and I knew she could be a handful at times, but I had no idea she could be so devious. I knew exactly what had been the motivation for her to do such a thing – she definitely didn't send everyone that video with good intentions.

"What?" She looked at me, annoyed, as she slammed her locker shut. "Like you said, everyone would have seen or heard about it anyway. I was just speeding up the process."

"And did you think about _why_ you felt the need to do that? Bad needs!" I spluttered. "I know Vanessa isn't exactly making things easy for us, but you can't act like two wrongs make a right."

Ever since the showdown with Vanessa outside of school that day, Fatima and I had been the butt of jokes and ridicule and even nasty name-calling. It was clear to see that if you made enemies with Vanessa Hudgens, you made enemies with the entire school. Of course, Fatima and I had a few friends who weren't caught up in the entire student body's latest hate campaign, but three or four supporters was nothing when you had hundreds of haters. It wasn't all that serious either; people weren't attacking us or throwing knives at us or something. It was just that we'd gotten a reputation for being, to quote a cheerleader; 'stupid little bitchy backstabbing whore-faces who, like, totally want to get in Zac Efron's pants, but uh-uh girlfriend, no way are you getting your hands on V's man.' Half of that doesn't even make sense.

Anyway, I can see why Fatima would be depressed, but still… My parents raised me with good morals. If I was still back home with Danielle, if my parents were still alive, then maybe I wouldn't think or care so much about lying or getting revenge on a girl who had picked a fight with me. Of course, knowing Danielle, we'd probably kick some real ass together. But my parents aren't here and this isn't where I was raised. I feel like when I lost my parents, I lost everything. Then over the last few weeks, all these memories keep coming into my head of time we spent together, and that makes me think: I haven't lost everything. I still have the memories; I still have what they taught me, I still have my family values. That's why it feels important to me now to live up to my parent's expectations. As hilarious as I would have once found it to embarrass Vanessa by parading an incriminating video like that right under her nose, I know what my mom would say, I know how she would be hurt that she had raised her daughter in such a way. I want to do my parents' right.

Besides that, I'm growing up now. Vanessa is a person, albeit a very annoying pain in the butt of a person, but a person nonetheless. I don't want to hurt her. When I think of the pain I felt with losing my family… I compare that pain to what she might feel seeing her boyfriend's lips pressed against another girl's. I still like Zac a lot, I still think he's witty and hilarious… and I still think Vanessa doesn't deserve him. Yet, I don't agree with Fatima's actions.

"Anna, chill. She started it anyway. Who does she think she is bossing us around?" Fatima glared angrily as if she was talking to Vanessa and not me.

"I don't care about her. And you shouldn't either. Remember once upon a time, you told me to move on from a certain guy because what I wanted wasn't ever happening…?"

"Yeah." Fatima growled a little reluctantly.

"Well now I'm telling you. Forget fighting her. High school is such a small part of life, just… forget her? Please?" I gave her a small, hopeful smile.

"You really are a brat." Fatima groaned. "But a brat that I can't say no to."

"Thank you!" I put my arm around her and grinned.

"Yeah, yeah." Fatima shrugged me off. "I'm only keeping my end of the deal if you've been keeping away from that _certain guy_".

"Well, that's going to be kind of hard." I bit my lip and started to walk down the corridor,

"Oh really?" Fatima looked at me.

"Yes! I'm his tutor now. Of course it's going to be hard." I sighed. "But then again, it's pretty easy too. Seeing as he never turns up for any of our sessions."

"That's good then!" Fatima smiled, noticing me frowning. "It's better that you stay away from him. Once you get latched onto someone like that… you're latched on for life."

I laughed at her phrasing; she was one of the most unique people I had ever met.

"Yeah, I doubt staying away will be that hard, after all, I hardly ever see-"

I didn't look where I was going, I was too busy talking, and my head to one side as it faced Fatima. We rounded the corner and BAM! My history textbook and pencil case flew into the air as I hit something solid. _Someone _solid.

"Whoa… dude!" Zac sprung back, looking generally shocked; his blue eyes wide. My hands dropped to my sides as my books clattered to the floor and I took a nervous step back, never taking my eyes off him. He looked stunning. His hair was longer, and more brown and blonde then black and dark. It was straight and fell into his eyes. He quickly recovered from the surprise and bent over to retrieve my books. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see people stopping here and there in the corridor, pretending to go to their lockers, but secretly watching Zac and me. Fatima stood to one side, rolling her eyes and playing with her hair.

"Here you go – all in one peace." Zac gave me a broad smile as he handed me my Winnie The Pooh pencil case on top of my history textbook. I blushed a deep red.

"Thanks." I quickly took it from him and tucked the pencil case under my arm, Zac noticed and laughed.

"Hey, if it's Disney, it's all good." He joked.

"I've had it for years; I just can't part from it." I mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, same deal with me and my dog." Zac smiled and I gave a nervous laugh. Just then I felt someone's hand brush my arm and turned to see Fatima linking her arm through mine. She gave Zac a sceptical look.

"So are you too famous for school now?" She spat. Zac looked genuinely taken aback as I looked at her, mortified.

"Excuse me?" Zac looked around, confused. It was clear he had no idea who Fatima was. It was even clearer that the last thing he wanted to do was stand in a hallway with the two of us and a whole bunch of people shooting secret glances at him.

"You might win MTV Movie Awards, but buddy, you ain't winning no awards for English Literature. And my friend Anna is supposed to be tutoring you, but it seems you think that's a little beneath you." I knew the words were coming even before they left Fatima's lips, her voice was full of attitude and I could see clearly that Zac was not liking being talked to in that way.

"I've never said anything was beneath me. I love this school and I certainly don't think I'm better then any other student here. Hey, if I was, I wouldn't be failing English, would I?" A few people giggled. "I've been busy. And I meant to apologise… to her."

Zac completely turned and his face paralleled mine, I almost fainted.

"I-it's OK, you don't have to apologise… I get it." I spoke meekly and noticed Fatima glaring.

"Then that's alright." Zac gave a calm, relaxed smile. "We could have our first session… tomorrow?"

Tomorrow? Tomorrow was Saturday. Of course tomorrow could happen! I nodded, hopefully not too eagerly, as I couldn't speak.

"Great. I'll have a car pick you up and drop you at the studio." He looked pleased. My mouth dropped open. _Studio?_

"Studio?" Fatima echoed my thoughts, curious.

"Oh yeah, I'm filming Good Morning America tomorrow, a little High School Musical 2 promotional." Zac registered the gathered people in the hallways who were closely watching him now. "Be sure not to miss it. And you won't miss it because you'll be there, we can work after taping."

And with that, he sauntered down the hallway, leaving me standing there with Fatima and a kajillion envious eyes on me – feeling very light heated.

"Wow… GMA!" I breathed.

"Don't get your hopes up. He only invited you because he cracked under the pressure. I called his bluff. He **so** thinks he's better then this school, he's using you to show everyone that he's not stuck-up, but he really is." Fatima looked annoyed and stalked off, in a huff.

I watched her go, not really caring as I could feel the excitement building up within me.

GMA! How freakin' awesome was that?! GMA! If this was him using me to prove a point, then he could use me all he wanted!

**AUTHOR****'S NOTE:**

**HEY GUYS!! SO ONCE AGAIN, REALLY SORRY FOR THE DELAY BUT I****'M CHURNING OUT THE CHAPTERS NOW. BE SURE TO REVIEW EACH ONE BECAUSE IT REALLY MEANS A LOT. I REALLY DO LOOK AT THE FEEDBACK I GET FOR EACH CHAPTER TO HELP ME SHAPE AND MOULD THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REST OF THE STORY AND PLOTLINES.**

**Love you all soo much!! REVIEW, BABY!**


	15. Aunt Janice

_**Anna**_

It was 5AM and I was already wide awake; I hadn't slept at all during the last night because of all the thoughts and anxieties that were whizzing around in my head. On the one hand, I was really excited. I was going to spend the best part of today with Zac Efron – and actually go to a real live TV studio! How amazing was that? It was an opportunity most people would treasure. Yet, I still couldn't stop Fatima's words from ringing in my head: '_He's using you…'_. It was probably true. Did Zac really need me on set while he was filming? Of course he didn't. He had obviously cracked under the pressure of all the curious eyes on him in the hallway yesterday, he felt like he had to prove something. He could have just arranged to meet me after Good Morning America… But I guess he wanted to show that he wasn't forgetting his roots, he wasn't getting bigheaded and that he could still chill with people from school even when he had all the mayhem of fame going on around him.

I don't know whether to be proud of him or hate him.

How can I hate him? He's wonderful. He's been nothing but a sweetheart to me, and I know he's never meant bail on our study dates. Anyway, it's not like he has any real responsibilities towards me, it's not like I'm his girlfriend or something… That would be… Never happening.

Gah. I hate my thoughts right now. My head is killing me from thinking so much. I keep wondering if my obsession with Zac is something to do with filling the hole in my life. I'm starved of love. I need affection and I'm looking for it from Zac? A lot has changed for me this year, my entire life has just blown up and I can't ever move on from what's happened because that's how enormous the terrible events that have happened are. Nothing is a certainty anymore, and me wanting Zac to be something for me that he probably won't ever be is definitely a confusing uncertainty.

I sat up in bed and looked around my dimly lit room; it was starting to get light outside. I pulled on my robe and left my bedroom. I would probably never get to sleep now so I might as well get an early start on the day. I would need a head start anyway if I was going to be spending time with Zac Efron… and the entire High School Musical cast. Ugh, all of a sudden my stomach didn't feel so good. I padded down the stairs in my fluffy blue slippers and turned into the living room to see… Aunt Janice.

She was sitting hunched over at her oak desk; all around her were pieces of paper and big, thick books which towered over her laptop. Her long, thin fingers were expertly gliding across the keyboard as she typed. I stood in the hallway and watched her.

_Had she even gone to bed last night?_

If there was one thing that had been difficult to adjust to, it was the way Aunt Janice worked. When my dad would come home from work, that was it. Work was over. He would kick back, watch some TV, eat dinner and then spend time with me and mom. Sometimes we would go out for ice-cream after dinner, or even go out for dinner to save having to wash up. When I was younger, I used to love staying at home because after dinner, it would be me and dad doing the washing up while mom finally got a chance to relax. I used to love spending time with my dad, I worshipped him. Lately, before they died, I was growing up, I guess, and growing away from them. I would rather hang out at a party with Danielle, trying to get some guy to notice me, then go out to dinner with my parents. I kind of missed the dinners now, considering Aunt Janice didn't even make it home in time for dinner herself. She wasn't strict, she had given me a reasonable curfew and she didn't ever nag me about school work. She lived in her own private little world. She made sure she took my clothes to the dry cleaners, she made sure there was something in the house at all times for me to eat and she made sure I had everything I needed in the way of clothes, shoes and school books.

I don't know what more I wanted from her. A conversation, maybe? When I first moved here, I was too busy being angry at the world and being cooped up in my own grief to try to talk to Aunt Janice about anything. I thought with time, we might get to a stage where we would be sitting at the dinner table and talking about our memories of my mother, or even some silly story of how my parents met each other or something. But none of that had happened. Aunt Janice was a busy woman; she had lived most of her adult life alone. It was clear for me to see she had never made time to form relationships with men, she didn't have a secret boyfriend stashed away somewhere. She had a few friends from where she worked, but hardly anyone she would bring home for a dinner party. Like I said before, most nights she didn't get home until 10.30PM at the earliest. I normally did homework, watched TV and called Fatima and then went to bed, only to wake up the next day with Aunt Janice sitting downstairs with breakfast ready – but her head was always in a book, she was always doing something else. Never talking to me.

Yesterday night I had waited up for her and as I was in an exceptionally good mood; I even made dinner! She looked a little taken aback by this gesture, but nevertheless got changed and came and sat with me at the table. She asked me if everything was OK at school and that was enough of a prompt to cause me to fly into a full-blown conversation about this boy, Zac, who went to school with me, who only happened to be a major Hollywood star, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't getting the grades for English, which is where I came in, and so tomorrow I would be accompanying him to GMA studios. When I finished, Aunt Janice raised an eyebrow at me, seeming amused at my excitement.

"Ah. He invited you along, did he?"

"Yup."

"And this…" She gestured to the food before her, "Is your very nonchalant way of asking me for my permission?" She smiled.

"You have to let me go!" I frowned. "It's for school."

"Well, who am I to stand in the way of your education?" Aunt Janice gave me a wide smile and I had to laugh. I felt warmth radiating from my heart and spreading through me. This was the kind of moment I could remember having with my mom. At that moment, I loved Aunt Janice.

Now as I watched her, sitting in the same position that she had been seated in last night before I went to bed, I felt sorry for her. She worked so hard and still, she had to work even harder. Whoever her boss was must be real jerk.

"Aunt Janice?"

Aunt Janice looked startled as she looked up, she looked at me with confusion and then at the clock on the wall with surprise.

"Oh, my… It's gotten so late!"

"Actually, it's gotten so early." I laughed and Aunt Janice gave a tired smile as she took of her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

"Want me to make you some coffee?" I offered.

"That would be… lovely." Aunt Janice nodded as I made my way to the kitchen. "I gather you were too excited to sleep, huh?"

"Something like that." I smiled as I took out a coffee mug. My eyes met the timer on the microwave. It read: 5.45AM. In three hours time, I would be sitting backstage at GMA… only ten feet away from Zac Efron! I let out an involuntary squeal and heard Aunt Janice laugh from the living room; I blushed.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Hey, guys! I'm uploading the next chapter straight after this one. I just wanted to answer some questions from some of the reviews you guys sent me:**

_**Evilshrimp20**_**: This is definitely not a ZANESSA. That much I can tell you!**

_**Bluebubba9:**_** Yes, I would love for you to beta read my story! That would be amazing. Send me your email address in a review and I'll email you!**

**Keep reading and reviewing guys! Every review means a lot to me!**


	16. Only One Girl, Only One

_**Vanessa**_

My hair didn't look right and the skinny jeans and loose fitting top that I was wearing made me cringe when I looked in the mirror. I frowned at my hair and brushed strands of it away from my forehead.

"You're beautiful and you know it…" I smiled as I heard the sing-song voice in my left ear. I turned to Zac and, shooting a look around us to make sure we were alone, gave him a quick peck on the lips. He looked stunning as usual in a red designer T-shirt and denim jeans. God, how I wanted to comb my fingers through his hair, how I wanted to touch, to _feel_ him… but for now, I would settle for a kiss. _For now_.

"Guys, we need you ready to leave the Blue Room in ten." A frizzy haired woman with a headset and clipboard shouted as Monique whizzed past me to the vanity mirror.

"Where's the hairdresser? My hair is not cooperating!" Monique groaned as she frowned at herself in the mirror.

"You're rocking the hair." I smiled. Zac laughed and strolled over to Monique and took her hands in his and twirled her around.

"You look worthy of Good Morning America, you got Mo-Mo hair." Zac beamed and Monique pretended to pout, but then laughed and pushed Zac away, letting go of his hands, and grabbed a comb.

"Oh my God, don't do it, Monique!" Ashley whizzed over in her stiletto heels, jeans and cream top, she was holding a tube of lip-gloss in one hand and looking panicked.

"Do what?" Monique looked annoyed as she proceeded to attack her hair with the hairbrush.

"That!" Ashley snatched the hairbrush away from a disgruntled Monique. "It's suicide! Wait for the hairdresser."

I couldn't help but to laugh at them, Zac caught my eye and gave me a wink, making me giggle.

"Zac, over here!" The make-up artist called to him from the other end of the room and he whizzed off. I watched him go, the smile never leaving my face.

"Guys, five minutes!" The woman with the clipboard was back.

We were alls standing in the Blue Room, backstage of Good Morning America studios, and were about to go live in five minutes. I didn't like how I looked this morning, I doubt the ton of concealer I had on my face would hide the dark circles. Man, I was tired. I knew the drill though, I was going to go out there and smile for the cameras and roll with the questions. This is my job, this is what I love, and no one is going to get the chance to say Vanessa Hudgens is damn grateful for where she is now.

With that thought in mind, I started to follow Corbin and Kaycee out of the room and then stopped halfway. Sitting on the couch near the big screen TV which showed the GMA stage was a thin brunette. She wore brown, knee-high leather boots, a brown mini-skirt and stretchy brown pull-over with a long black necklace draped around her. Her brown hair was straightened and hung over her shoulders. Her eyes met mine and I instantly knew who she was. _Anna_.

I never made a point of it to remember people's names at school, well, people who weren't important anyway. The world is full of back-stabbers and high school's a breeding ground for them. I have my close friends and I certainly don't need anymore. Yet, I knew this girl's name because it was no secret she was obsessed with Zac. _Who wasn't_? But she was close to him. She was getting close to him. She was his stupid tutor and now she was here… on a Saturday. _What a tutor!_

I hated her in that moment. I hated her because she was a stick-figure, as thin as Ashley, she had no thighs but she was damn gorgeous and it looked like she knew it. And she wanted my boyfriend. I've known Zac before he was on the cover of _Rolling Stone_. I've grown famous with him, I was there before any of these girls… That's what hurts. Sometimes when he looks at other girls, I know what he sees. An opportunity. What girl wouldn't give herself to Zac Efron? But he stays faithful. _Is it love?_

Why did he invite her here? What possible reason could there be for inviting her to the GMA studios? I shot a look over my shoulder at Zac, who was making the make-up artist laugh by pulling faces as she dabbed at his cheeks with powder. A small smile crept across my face at his antics. _He doesn't love me. _I was just there, at the right time, at the right moment. He probably regrets settling down with me… There's so many beautiful women he could have now, and he's stuck with me…

"Alright, Vanessa, let's go, go, go, go!" I jumped half out of my skin as my thoughts were interrupted by the lady with the clipboard. She grabbed me by the upper arm and manoeuvred me out of the room, I looked over my shoulder and shot Anna a glare as I left the Blue Room and entered the hallway.

Another day, another fake smile.

_**Anna**_

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1… And we're on!"

I could hear a woman's voice booming across the stage that I was watching on the TV in front of me. I was nervous _for_ Zac! He had waltzed in here so professionally and asked if I had had a safe journey on my way here (I got picked up by a limo! The kids next door went crazy and begged me for a ride to the park!). Then the rest of the cast arrived but no one really noticed me, Corbin kind of gave me a smile while his mom was sorting out his curls because he noticed me laughing, it made me blush. Ashley and Vanessa had been in completely their own world and Monique had been talking to Chris and Kaycee. There were two other members of the cast there who I recognised as Kelsi and Jason but I was too nervous to actually go talk to them and find out their real names. When I arrived in the parking lot, there was a massive crowd of screaming people who actually screamed at MY limo! It was insane! I think they were all bitterly disappointed when I stepped out, and mercifully didn't trip, to notice I wasn't Vanessa or Ashley or even Zac. I was kind of embarrassed as they all watched me with a confused look, I went in with Kenny Ortega who was carrying his dog and had arrived in his car at the same time as me. It had been such a whirlwind, just arriving here. And now I was going to see Zac Efron in action!

I watched as the cast walked onto the runway through the audience with the fans screaming at them. The song 'All For One' from HSM2 was playing in the background, I almost squealed in excitement and I couldn't make the idiotic wide smile on my face disappear. I was just glad that all the make-up artists, supervisors and the producer were all gone and assisting behind the stage, so I had the entire room to myself.

I leaned back on the leather couch and sighed. This was officially the best day of my life. Well, it was the happiest I had been since moving here anyway.

_**Zac**_

The crowd was jam-packed with mostly kids, and the odd teenage girl or parent, it was insane. I could never get over the extreme overwhelming feeling of excitement every time I did an interview in front of an open audience. The host was amazing, I'd watched her present GMA for years and now I was sitting here as a guest. How amazing can a Saturday morning get? I couldn't even bear to think about the mountain of schoolwork I had to catch up with after.

We had all just introduced ourselves and then talked about each other. Then Kenny had dragged us all into a dance-a-long which was pretty cool except I can't feel my legs now and I'm so concentrated on that pain that I can't concentrate on the questions. Dammit, they took the chairs so I guess I'm going to have to stand up.

OK.

Ow.

Leg cramp.

Just smile it off. Oh, God… cameraman's panning over to you. Big smile. Phew. God, I must have made that look cheesy.

I think I better start concentrating on what's going on. Now they were playing some clip a girl and her kid brother had sent in. The girl was slightly taller then her younger brother and they were standing outside in the sun.

"Hi, my name is Taylor, and this is my brother Cameron." The little girl patted her brother on the head and I heard Vanessa and Monique go _'Awww'_ next to me. My ability to resist the urge to make fun of them has to be applauded here, seriously.

"Hey." The little boy, Cameron, waved at the camera.

"He's four years old and I'm eight years old and uh, we watched High School Musical 30 times, so I love Zac and he loves Vanessa." Even I had to laugh at that.

"Um, we just wanted to know um how many girlfriends Zac has had and how many boyfriends Vanessa has had."

Her little brother then attempted to rephrase the question but his words were a little ahead of him and he got quite muddled up.

I could see Vanessa wasn't smiling anymore. I gave her a smile and nudged her. The camera came back into focus on us and Vanessa looked at me expectantly. No way was I going to field this one.

"Vanessa, you take that one." I spoke quickly.

"He asked me how many girlfriends I have!" Vanessa laughed. "Um, I have quite a few!"

Everyone laughed and I had to join in myself. _Touche_. Vanessa had evaded that question pretty well. Maybe I could make a joke on how many boyfriends I have? Maybe not.

"Oh, gosh… I-I don't know. Um, I like… I think all of these ladies are my girlfriends." Point match to me! The girls in the audience let out a deafening squeal and the host laughed. Vanessa looked at me and smiled, but her eyes weren't smiling. I suddenly sensed something was wrong. But what could I do, here, and now? We had both agreed to focus on our careers, not our personal lives. I couldn't just hijack the stage and proclaim my love for her.

_**Ashley**_

I had to roll my eyes at Zac and Vanessa. I love them both tenderly but they couldn't be more obvious if they tried. We were now ending our Q & A session and being ushered onto the dance floor once again with Kenny. This time a whole group of kids were joining us. We were told by one of the producers that they planned to have the entire cast and children dancing together as the ending credits rolled.

As the woman bade farewell to the cameras which now began to pan over the audience, I watched Zac walk over to Vanessa as the stage exploded with dancing kids and cast members alike.

"There's only one girl, only one…" Zac entwined his fingers with Vanessa and held up one hand with one finger. "Only one girl for me."

Vanessa laughed and nodded. "I thought so." She smiled.

I couldn't help but to feel slightly annoyed as I joined the crowd in dancing; Zac had used me as a diversion with the next question to attract attention away from any further talk of their relationship. Then Monique had joined in in the discussion of how much like Sharpay I was. I knew they were kidding, but it still hurt to be scapegoated. As if I hadn't covered up for them enough as it was. As if I didn't do VANESSA enough favours as it was.

Then again, I did what I did for her because over these last two years, I had grown to love her like a sister. And like a sister, sometimes she could be a pain in the ass, but she was still family, which means I would always cover for her, whether it was lying to a teacher… or a boyfriend.

In the dancing crowd of happy people with smiles on their faces, I could almost see Vanessa and Zac dancing in slow motion, laughing, happy in each other's company. It was like a fairy tale. A twisted one.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Hey guys. As promised, I've delivered two chapters in one day! Whoo hoo!**

**So please review and tell me what you think of the entire GMA escapade. I really love the feedback.**

**Also, if you didn't get a chance to watch GMA, you can catch it on Youtube! I recommend watching it before reading this. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**


	17. Interrupted Moments

_**Anna**_

I was officially in way over my head. I looked around me at the large 'Blue Room' which was fashionably furnished and painted blue and felt a strong urge to pinch myself; praying to God I wouldn't wake up in my bedroom at home.

Zac, Vanessa, Ashley and the rest of the cast had just finished up doing their interviews and were now all dancing on stage as the closing credits whizzed by at the bottom of the big screened TV that I was watching them on. I could hear a woman's voice being projected out across the stage; "And we're back in 5, 4, 3, 2…. 1!" The red, flashing **on-air** sign above the stage stopped flashing and the crowd of dancers stopped as the music was cut. I could see Monique hugging Kaycee and Corbin clapping his hands and talking excitedly with the host who was giving her microphone to one of the cameramen. That was a wrap.

Suddenly, everyone started to file off the stage and I could hear distant voices getting louder in the hallway as everyone made their way back to the Blue Room. Feeling nervous, I nervously patted my hair down and straightened out the dark brown cotton pull-over I was wearing and stood up.

"All, big smiles everyone!" I could hear Kenny Ortega's voice from the corridor and walked over to the door to see the cast, along with Zac, posing in the hallway. They were all laughing and smiling. I could actually see for the first time what actors and artists found so amazing about their jobs, I had just experienced it first hand myself. The excitement, the crowd, the adrenaline rush… And they were laughing their way throughout it all. How amazing were their lives? This was what they did for work.

As the camera flashed and the picture was taken, Zac looked up and his eyes met mine. God, I must have looked so out of place standing there in the hallway like a weirdo while they all had this amazing moment. But Zac's face broke out into a grin and then his hands outstretched towards me.

"Hey, Anna, get over here." He beckoned me over. My eyes grew huge with surprise as I realised he wanted me to be in one of the pictures.

"Oh yeah. Excellent." Kenny nodded over at me approvingly. "Zac, bring your friend over."

Zac laughed at my nervousness and jogged over to me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Monique was toying with her hair and talking to Corbin and the girl who played Kelsi, while Ashley was looking at Vanessa, who I swear frowned as she watched Zac.

"Really, I would rather stay here… where it's comfortable." I laughed, but Zac was already grabbing my hands and pulling me over to the crowd.

"Alright, everyone get in." Kenny gestured for everyone to stand in a line, I awkwardly stood to one side of Zac at the end of the line, with Vanessa on the other side of him. Zac had his arm around my waist and it was actually killing me, my heart was beating so fast and he smelt so good. This was not good. What if I fainted? I was feeling kind of dizzy… He was so sweet and generous, I couldn't help but to look at him as he flashed a big smile at the camera. Then I realised this wasn't English Lit. and that a picture was actually being taken, and so turned to the photographer.

"Big cheesy smiles everyone!" Kenny instructed animatedly from behind the photographer.

"Cheesy!" I heard Ashley and Corbin squeal as everyone laughed when the camera flashed. Thankfully I was actually smiling and looking normal when the picture was taken.

"Alright, now get outta here." Kenny joked as the photographer left. Everyone began to disperse, Ashley was still behind with the guy who played Jason and talking to Kenny, but almost everyone else had begun to disappear. I stood there looking kind of lost as I watched Vanessa take Zac by the hand and lead him away into a dressing room marked: _**VANESSA HUDGENS, only.**_ I didn't know where to go, so I just stood in the hallway, feeling really out of place, as I watched people move here and there.

After what felt like hours of just standing there in the hallway, I started to get worried. _What if Zac forgot about me? It wouldn't be the first time…_ I took a deep breath and moved down the hallway towards Vanessa's dressing room and leaned in to knock. I stopped within a millimetre of the door in shock. I could hear voices. Angry voices.

"I can't believe after all this time, you're listening to what I say in some interview rather then what I'm saying now!" It was Zac.

"And what exactly are you saying now? Bringing all these weird girls from school over with you – _what_ exactly is that saying?!" Vanessa. _Weird girls_. Oh, God. Suddenly I didn't feel so good. They were fighting because of me…

"Weird girls?!" Zac echoed my thoughts. "Girl. One girl. My English tutor." I heard a frustrated sigh and then a pause. "Look…" It was Zac, he was speaking in a quieter voice. "What I said out there… We've said over and over again that we're going to always be together, alone. We've always said we don't want anyone interfering in our business. So what am I supposed to do when I get asked about a girlfriend? I told you… there's only one girl for me."

There was another pause. I could hear shuffling sounds like someone was moving. "We did say that, didn't we?" It was Vanessa. "But you know what we never say to each other anymore Zac? I love you. We never say that anymore. Not even when we're alone. It's like you're so desperate to hide this-"

"You wanted to hide it too!" The anger in his voice was back.

"I didn't want it to be like this!" Vanessa was giving back as good as she got. "You can't even say it now, can you? Whose listening to us now, Zac? Who's here to spy on us now? Why can't you say it now?"

I could hear more shuffling around. "I'm not going to talk to you when you're behaving like this. Just… just clear your head." Zac's voice of soft, almost sad.

"So you can walk away like you always do?" Vanessa screeched.

"I'll call you later." Zac's tone didn't change.

My mouth widened in shock as the door flew open at that moment and I realised I was staring into Zac's confused eyes. Whoops.


	18. Better Left Unsaid

_**Anna**_

I looked around me at the turquoise carpeted room with cream walls; it was a large, roomy kind of room with a white leather couch facing a big screen TV at one end and a large clear door overlooking a patio into the garden at the other end. On one of the walls hung a large A3 portrait of what looked like Zac with a gap in his teeth, wearing a smart greying suit and standing with a boy who had the same piercing blue eyes as him but was shorter. Behind the two of them stood a blonde, short woman and a tall dark haired man; they were all wearing identical smiles on their faces.

"I had that enlarged and framed last week." Zac came and stood beside me, looking at the portrait. He was in a much calmer mood then he had been in before. I had thought for a moment back there at GMA studios that he would call his driver and send me home packing. Instead, Zac had sort of sighed in a frustrated way at Vanessa and walked straight past me, leaving Vanessa glaring after him. It was such an awkward situation to be in. After a moment of just standing there, Vanessa has pushed past me in anger and stalked off. I had never been so embarrassed in my life. A moment later, Zac had come back, his face was no longer as red as it had been before and he was smiling.

Now, no more then twenty minutes later, I was standing in the middle of his apartment after riding here in style in a limo with crowds of girls screaming just outside the tinted windows. It was dizzying feeling. Zac had laughed at my overwhelmed expression as I had half tripped, half dragged myself into the limo.

Zac handed me the soda he had gone to get for me.

"Thanks. Are those your parents?" I asked.

"Yeah." Zac popped open his soda and took a sip. "We took it nearly two years ago. My mom bought it around when I got this apartment, it's kind of a memento."

"Really? What of?"

"Well, uh, it was taken before I got the part on _Summerland,_ so it's a memento… reminding me to stay the same guy I was then. Well, without the goofy smile." Zac joked and I smiled; Zac was deep. He had real treasures… like photographs, not money… just like me. Zac looked at me and a new expression flitted across his face, one I hadn't seen before.

"Yeah, it's… the whole thing's dorky." Zac nodded nervously at the portrait. "It's just a family thing."

My eyes widened, I realised I had been grinning like an idiot and Zac must have thought I was laughing at him or something.

"Oh, no, no!" I rushed to explain but had to laugh. "I wasn't laughing at you. I was just smiling because that's… it's what I do."

Zac looked at me quizzically.

"I have a whole bunch of photographs, but there's this one sort of family portrait that I have… on my bedroom wall…" My voice drifted off into a whisper as I remembered. "That I _used_ to have."

My memory wafted back to nearly half a year before when my mother had dragged me away from Danielle on a Saturday to go grocery shopping with her, something I loathed. So I called Danielle and told her to meet us at the supermarket, which annoyed my mom because, I guess, she wanted to spend some quality 'mother-daughter' time, something I also hated back then. Danielle and I had spent the entire day messing around in department stores and picking up junk food. My mom had been extremely annoyed and to make matters worse, when we got to the parking lot, her car was out of petrol. Danielle and I had found this hysterical, back then; we would laugh at anything and everything. Thinking about it now, it wasn't even all that funny. So my mom had called my dad to come and pick us up and luckily, my dad also laughed at the melted ice cream and my mom's absolutely furious expression. Just as we were about to get into the car, we saw a photo-booth and Danielle and I immediately pulled out our quarters and went to take some dorky pictures. My mom had gotten even angrier at having to wait for us, so my dad had taken her by the hand and pulled her into the photo booth with me and Danielle. I remember me and Danielle had squealed and laughed as all four of us squeezed into the booth, barely able to breathe. My mom eventually broke out into laughter also, and we ended up with about 10 strips of dorky pictures of me, Danielle, mom and dad. _My family_. Ihad picked out the best one and gotten it enlarged about a month before my parents had died and had put it up in my bedroom wall, it wasn't framed or anything, I'd just used it as a poster, but it still meant a lot. I now remembered that in my reluctance to leave, I hadn't packed it with me and it was still there...

Coming back to reality, I saw Zac was looking at me with a concerned expression on his face.

"You OK?"

I blinked blearily at him.

"Anna?"

"Um, sorry." I shook my head and laughed a little. "Where, uh, where were we?"

"Well, I think you were trying to console me that I wasn't the biggest dork ever, because you already hold that title with your little family portraits… Right?" Zac joked.

"Uh, yeah." I smiled a little. "I get how pictures can mean a lot. That's what I meant to say. I have this portrait of my… my family, I guess, back at home, hanging on my bedroom wall. It reminds me of this pretty eventful day."

"Back at home? You still have family back there?" Zac asked, sitting down at the table where all our schoolbooks and stationary were laid out.

"Well… their still buried there…" I couldn't believe I had just said that. My face turned a shade of red and I bowed my head, begging my stupid self not to cry. I could feel Zac's surprised eyes on me and after a long moment of silence, I heard Zac try to casually clear his throat.

"So, uh, Hamlet." Zac picked up a copy of the play and held it up; I gave him a small grateful smile for not pressing on the matter.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Who is this dude and why is he so important to me achieving a pass in English Lit?" Zac smiled and gave me a wink and I laughed as I took the play from him and started to explain.

The rest of the two hours of so felt like they were over in a moment. I didn't press on Zac's issues with Vanessa, I didn't even dare mention her, it was clear they were both having a bad day and Zac was trying his best to live his professional and personal and school life the best way he could. And Zac didn't mention his family, my family or anything along those lines. I think we both realised that some things are better left unsaid.

As Zac joked around and even tried to talk seriously about 'Hamlet' and Shakespeare, I couldn't help but to sneak quick looks at Zac's face and just stare… I felt like I was falling into something I shouldn't be. Then again, sitting here and talking to him, just passing the time, it felt great, it felt _right_. He's a lot more then the hunk on the cover of _Rolling Stone_, he's gorgeous inside and out. And I think, for the first time, I was falling in love with the inside.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Hey you guys!**

**Please review this chapter. How well do you think I played out the Anna/Zac scenes in this chapter? What did you think of the entire GMA episode [I know it dragged it on but I really wanted to give a detailed account of it, not rush it So what did you think? REVIEW and let me know! TAKE TWO SECONDS AND REVIEW!**

**Also, if you look at my profile, you'll see I've put up TWO NEW STORIES, go to them and read the introductions [which are extremely short and let me know in a review for them whether you think their good ideas or not. If no one reviews, I won't be writing them. **

**THANKS A LOT AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW THIS CHAPTER!**


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